


Both of Ours

by orphan_account



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I have a lot of feelings, Kinda, M/M, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Threesome - M/M/M, Wammy House, and far too many headcannons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 16:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14109222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Matt's been acting strangely, and Mello is going to fix it. Somehow.





	Both of Ours

Matt was acting strangely. It is important to note here that “strange" had its own definition at Wammy’s. An outsider would label every single child there as strange- and they wouldn't necessarily be wrong. However, inside the safe, homely walls of Wammy’s House “strange” began to mean something different for every extraordinary child there. Matt was not strange because all of his shirts were stripped or because he chose to wear orange-tinted goggles nearly 24/7 or because he dyed his hair crayon red. Rather, Matt was strange for a fairly normal reason.

He was avoiding his best friend, his roommate, his almost-kinda boyfriend, Mello.

Mello knew why. He took it too far.

They had been dancing around each other for so long, sitting closer together, sharing long looks and secret smiles, stealing small touches. It was like a game between the two of them. Relatively innocent, but fun and exciting for the two teenage orphans.

Then, it all stopped. Suddenly, Matt refused to meet his eyes, scooted away when Mello sat, and flinched from every touch.

Mello forcefully pushed down on his insecurities. They had been best friends for nine and a half years; if Matt was going to decide he can't live with Mello’s less-than-stellar personality and moral compass, he would have done it long ago. There had to be another reason. Mello just wished he could figure out what that reason was.

After a week of failed attempts to get Matt to look at him and constantly trying to find the source of his best friend's strangeness, Mello gave up. He couldn't take it much longer. Instead, Mello figured that if he couldn't find the reason for the problem, maybe he could fix the symptoms.

That's when it happened. That's when he ruined the best and only friendship he'd had since his parents died.

Mello spent the rest of the week thinking of a way to get his best friend's attention back. Eventually, he decided a direct approach was best. Something unavoidable. It was a bit difficult, since Matt was really good at avoiding things he didn't want, whether it be doing homework or Mello. A light blush flooded Mello’s cheeks when he thought of what he was about to do. Little did he know that dreadful thought would be his undoing.

It was a Friday when he put his plan into action. Classes had ended for the week so Matt was sitting at the foot of his bed, playing one of the few video games he'd yet to beat on one of the several game systems the boy had collected over his ten years at Wammy’s. Mello strode purposely into their shared bedroom, closed the door and stood with his hands on his hips and a look of determination on his face directly in front of the television Matt was using to play games.

For the first time in a week, Matt looked into his eyes. The goggled teenager had raised his head in surprise at the sudden interruption, and Mello took the opportunity to place both his hands on the other boy's cheeks, holding him in place so Mello could swoop down and gently press his lips to Matt's.

For several long seconds nothing happened. No one dared move. In those seconds Mello prayed that Matt would respond, would do something- anything- to prove that Mello hadn't lost his best friend, his roommate, his almost-kinda-boyfriend.

None of Mello's prayers ever came true; he should have realized that one had been no different.

Matt visibly pulled himself from his shock. Then, he pushed Mello away hard enough that the blonde boy toppled over and landed on the carpet. Matt jumped off the bed, and out the door, calling a rushed apology over his shoulder.

Mello sat, dazed from the sudden turn of events. He genuinely wanted to cry for the first time in years.

He didn't though, because Mello had learned long ago that crying didn't fix anything. Instead, he climbed to feet, brushed himself off, and set off to find Matt.

···

It took longer that Mello expected. He checked all of Matt's usual places first, though he didn't think it was very likely that Matt would be there if he really didn't want to be found. Matt wasn't dumb. If he was, he wouldn't be at Wammy's.

So Mello was left to scour every room and hiding spot he could think of from the likely places, such as the library to the unlikely, like the tree in the yard that Matt refused to go near since he'd fallen out of it and broken two fingers and a thumb on his right hand.

It was almost three hours into the search that Mello thought of it. Matt wasn't just hiding; he was hiding from Mello. All he had to do was think of the one place that he would never willingly go for any other purpose than to cause havoc. That made it very easy.

Mello took off towards the infirmary as fast as his legs could carry him. He stopped one hallway short, in front of one of the few student bedrooms with only one occupant. The door was a clone of his own, but for the singular N on the nameplate rather than twin Ms. He didn't bother knocking. Instead, he threw the door open without warning. He didn't want to give Near the chance to hide Matt.

“Where the hel-" Mello’s words died on his lips at the sight in front of him.

Matt was curled loosely on Near's twin bed, head sat firmly upon on the younger teen’s lap. His messy, crayon-coloured hair looked like blood against the pure white of Near's pajama bottoms. His goggles were askew, revealing dried up tear tracks that ran down Matt's blotchy cheek.

Matt had always been a crier. Mello didn't know what hurt worse: that he'd caused Matt's tears, or that his best friend had run to Near to dry them.

“Shh. You'll wake him.”

Mello’s hurt quickly faded, leaving blistering anger in its wake. Near's soft words only fueled his rage. The oldest teen stalked forward and pulled Near up by his collar. The boy was limp and light in his arms. His face was expressionless, but his eyes betrayed his fear. He wasn't used to physical violence.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Mello was suddenly screaming, “Everyone already knows you're better than me! You have everything! The brains, the score, the attitude! Why do you have to take what's mine?”

Near opened his mouth to reply but Mello cut him off. The boy was so filled with rage that he didn't notice the stray tears that fell from his eyes.

“He was mine, Near! My best friend. I love him! You can't have him! I won't let you take him from me too. I won't let you. I won't…”

Matt, who had been ripped from his sleep by both the removal of his pillow and Mello’s screaming, grabbed Mello’s wrists and yanked them from Near’s collar.

“It’s not his fault!” Matt shouted, “You don’t understand, Mel!”

Mello refocused his rage onto Matt. He didn’t even what he was yelling at that point. It could have been gibberish for all he knew, but it needed to come out. He watched Matt wither beneath whatever vile words he was spewing at him, but Mello didn’t stop. He paced the room, banging his fists into the wall periodically. Mello felt his knuckles bruise, he distantly thinks that he’d punched a stud in the wall.

Eventually, after God knows how long, Mello’s throat can’t take it anymore. He dissolves into a coughing fit, his shaky knees giving out and forcing him to kneel on the floor as he regains his breath. The soreness in his chest and throat is the first to register. Then came the throbbing of his hands, he would definitely have to get his middle knuckle bandaged. Finally, Mello’s own broken sobs, more hiccups than anything at that point, reached his ears.

Mello curled into himself, wrapping his arms around his legs and forcefully quieting himself. Everything was just too much. Everything was so fucked. Not only did Matt stop being his best friend, he’d chosen Near instead. Nothing could have hurt worse than that, Mello was sure. Of course, Mello had to go and make it even worse by freaking out. He’d cried! And worse, he’d done it in front of them.

Shame burned hot on Mello’s cheeks. He would have run away is he thought that his legs would do anything but collapse in on themselves the moment he tried to stand.

The room is quiet for a long moment, or maybe it’s not and Mello is just lost in his self-pity, but either way it took him by complete surprise when long arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders.

Mello jerked his head up in surprise and saw familiar striped arms and crayon red hair tucked into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Matt whispered solemnly in his ear. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.”

Biting words were on the tip of Mello’s tongue, but Mello swallowed them and stayed quiet instead. That was the first time in weeks Matt willingly touched him and as betrayed as he felt, Mello couldn’t bare the thought of Matt letting go yet.

Matt continued, still quiet, “I don’t love him more than you. You’re still my best friend, Mel. I’m still yours.”

“Than why?” Mello asked. The tears that had stopped sometime during his tantrum returned to his eyes.

Matt took a deep breath and spoke, “Two months ago, when I fell out of that tree and had to go to the infirmary, Near was there. He was sick again. We talked for a long time while I was waiting for my x-rays to come back. He’s not so bad, Mel, once you give him a chance. We were just friends! I didn’t- I didn’t mean to fall in love with him too.”

His words shook Mello to his core for so many reasons. Not the least of which was the growing damp stop forming on his left shoulder. Matt was crying too now, which shouldn’t really be surprising because Matt cried at everything, but it was.

“I don’t want to choose between you two, Mel. Please don’t make me,” Matt begged into his shirt between sniffles.

“Who would you choose?” Mello hated the words before they even left his mouth but he needed to know. “If I make you, who would you choose?”

Matt lifted his head for the first time since he hugged Mello. His tear stained face was pulled into an offended expression, as though he couldn’t fathom why Mello would ever ask. “You, asshole! You’re my best friend. I’d always choose you.”

Mello nodded to himself and stood, brushing Matt off his shoulders. His legs, thankfully, held, and Mello walked over the bed. Near had curled himself into the corner of the mattress, pressing himself back into the wall in an effort to make himself look smaller than he already was. His eyes turned up to look at Mello. It was strange how his eyes, which were mostly pupil, could be so expressive.

“How do you feel about him?” Mello asked after stopping at the foot of Near’s bed.

Near’s dark eyes widened with surprise before settling back into neutrality. “Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

Near sighed, but said, “I like him. He’s my only friend.”

Mello stared at him for a long moment before speaking again. “Do you love him?”

“Yes.”

Out of the corner of his eye Mello saw Matt jerk his head in surprise from where he was still sitting on the floor. He nodded to himself again. That settled it.

Mello stuck out his hand. “Than it’s a deal then.” He said, “He’s both of ours now.”

Near hesitantly shook Mello’s hand. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this! I love these three being together (and everyone being happy and not dead). I've been fiddling with the idea of adding an epilogue/second chapter to this so if you would like that to happen, let me know! Please comment and kudo if you liked <3


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